1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for removing image forming substance from an image supporting body to which image forming substance is stably attached by means of an image forming apparatus such as copying machine, facsimile device, printer, press printing machine, etc. In particular, the method of and the apparatus for removing image forming substance from the image supporting body comprises peeling-off means in which a peeling-off member capable of exerting stronger sticking force than that between the surface of the image supporting body and the image forming substance on the image forming substance sticking to the surface of the image supporting body is brought into contact with the image forming substance on the surface of the image supporting body. After the image forming substance is heated and adhered to the peeling-off member the image supporting body and the peeling-off member are separated from each other, and thereby the image forming substance is peeled off and removed from the surface of the image supporting body.
2. Description of the Background
Conventionally, regarding the removal apparatus for removing the image forming substance such as toner from the copying paper as the recorded image supporting body, for instance, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2-55195/1990 discloses an image forming substance removing apparatus for removing thermally-fusable ink or toner mounted by use of the electrophotographic or thermally transferring method on a printing body constructed with a supporting body painted with peeling-off agent. The ink or toner sticks to the ink peeling-off member and is thereby removed from the printing body. The ink peeling-off member is superposed on the printing body and the superposed elements pass through between the heating roller and the pressurizing roller, and after being cooled, the ink peeling-off member is peeled off.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-64472/1992 discloses an eraser comprising an endless sheet having at least thermally-fusable resin on the surface thereof, a heating roller and a cooling roller for supporting and rotating the endless sheet, a pressing roller for pressing the paper (erasable paper) processed with peeling-off treatment on the surface thereof to the softened or fused thermally-fusable resin, and a driving portion for driving those elements in interlocking relationship therebetween.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-82983/1992 discloses an image forming substance removing apparatus comprising two (a pair of) rollers rotating in a state of being brought into pressurized contact with each other and causing paper to pass through the pressurizedly contacting portion, a heater for heating at least one of the above-mentioned two rollers, and a scratching unit for separating the paper passing through the pressurizedly contacting portion from the rollers.
And further, according to the present applicants' proposals of the image forming substance removing method, the recorded image supporting body supports at least one sort of water or water solution which is selected from the group consisting of water as an unstable agent, water solution including a surface active agent, water solution including water-soluble polymer, and water solution including surface active agent and water-soluble polymer. A peeling-off member is interposed and thereby the image forming substance is thermally or pressurizedly adhered to the peeling-off member so that the image forming substance is peeled off from the image supporting body. (For instance, refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 4-255916/1992.) According to this proposal, only the image forming substance can be removed without damaging the paper quality of the image supporting body comparatively.